The present invention relates to a removable rear mounted storage trunk for vehicles which can be removably detached from the vehicle for mobile positioning to a selected location.
Some vehicle designs have not always accommodated the user's need for trunk space. Station wagons for example, sometimes have limited space behind the rearmost seat. To offset this problem, cargo carriers have been developed which mount to the roofs of station wagons. Some of these cargo carriers are simply cargo rails, to which luggage can be secured. In other cases, large and enclosed luggage carriers are themselves mounted to the roofs of vehicles. In either case, the "trunk space" of such vehicles has been enlarged.
Vans have had "trunk space" problems similar to station wagons; however, the problem has been more acute because vans are taller than station wagons, making loading and unloading of luggage and other items even more difficult. With the downsizing of many vehicles, the "trunk space" availability in downsized vehicles has decreased; however, the desire for sufficient "trunk space" has not diminished.
Even if any of the aforementioned variety of cargo carriers could be mounted on the roofs of vans, such as in station wagons, the loading and unloading of luggage and other cargo normally requires several trips between the vehicle an place of embarkation/arrival. Thus, it would be desirable to have a removable storage trunk in which luggage and other cargo items could be stored during trips, but which could then be easily removed and re-positioned by the user to a selected location.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,566 shows a removable camper body, described as a "papoose", attached to the rear of a van and also having extendable wheeled legs for lowering to the ground in order to assist in attaching and detaching the "papoose" relative to the van. The "papoose" in this patent is designed to convert the van into a camping vehicle by using the removable "papoose" body as a kitchen. While this patent has some overall general applicability to the subject matter under discussion, it is apparent that this patent has not solved the need for extra "trunk space" in vehicles while also facilitating loading and unloading of the extra "trunk space", as well as mobile positioning of the extra "trunk space"